Disturbing Audio Played In Double Murder Trial

Posted: 10:37 AM, May 03, 2007Updated: 10:37 AM, May 03, 2007

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Harsh language and a changing story is what jurors heard in court on Wednesday as the prosecution in a double slaying trial played an audiotape of a police interview with the defendant.

The tape was recorded the first time investigators talked with Michael Jackson, who is one of four suspects accused of burying alive Carol and Reggie Sumner.

The Sumners were kidnapped and killed in July 2005. Investigators said they found the couple in a shallow grave in Georgia.

As the trial opened earlier this week, prosecutors called Jackson the criminal ringleader in the slayings.

On Tuesday, the jury heard from the couple's daughter and several police officers.

One of the officers took the stand with recordings of 911 calls that the prosecution claimed were made by Jackson posing as Reggie Sumner, who police said was killed two days before the call was made.

Prosecutors said Jackson called police to make sure he could still use the Sumners' ATM card.

On Wednesday, the jury heard more audiotapes. This time, the audio was from Jackson's first interview with detectives after his arrest.

Jackson could be heard saying on the tape, "You knew they were alive. You could, like, hear him. You could hear both of them, you know what I'm saying. It was (expletive) up."

The nearly two-hour, profanity-laced, question-and-answer session between Jackson and a JSO detective took up most of the time in the courtroom on Wednesday.

The Sumners' daughter sat in court with her eyes closed as the tapes played.

Many times during the interview, Jackson blamed two other people, Allen Wade and Bruce Nixon, for the killings. He said he and his girlfriend, Tiffany Cole, did nothing.

"We had nothing to do with the (expletive) people," he told the detective.

During the interrogation, Jackson asked the detective if officers had found the car, checked its trunk and discovered the shovels. When the detective said yes, Jackson told him to check the items for prints.

Toward the end of the recording, Jackson admitted to being in Georgia, where the Sumners were buried alive, but he maintained that others committed the crime.

Earlier this year, one of the other suspects, Bruce Nixon, pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder, armed kidnapping and armed robbery.

Detectives said Nixon was the man who led them to the grave.

In addition to Jackson and Nixon, prosecutors have charged Jackson's girlfriend and Alan Wade. Nixon faces from 52 years to life in prison, but will not be sentenced until the cases of the other three defendants are resolved.